Gritty crime novel!

Signal Loss 
by Garry Disher

                             

Set in the Mornington Peninsula region, south-east of Melbourne, Australia, makes this a fascinating read, as I happen to know that region reasonably well. So I was already hooked. But then again Garry Disher is one of my fav. authors. Local knowledge gives solidarity and legs to any reading.
The novel deals with drugs, deals, stolen equipment, and a serial rapist.
Laconic Inspector Hal Challis of the Drug Squad and his girlfriend Sergeant Ellen Destry of the Sex Crimes Unit find their cases merging.
The spread of methane-ice and it's consequences are devastating, the squalor real.

Like a fast-paced, noir criminal journalist, Disher leads us across state lines whilst paying attention to the minutiae that surrounds the desolate fate of the addict and the effect on those around them. Disher uses the background of rural Australia as a launching place for the very real issue of drugs on local communities, all the while spinning a mesmerizing story that weaves in and out of criminal, victims and law enforcers lives.

One cannot fault Disher's vivid prose. The situations come to life in that bald, bare way that is so nuanced and yet simultaneously in your face.

By the way I really like the cover!

A NetGalley ARC

*****